Introduction

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has long been used as both a culinary seasoning and medicinal herb. However, excessive consumption and application of fresh garlic in foods and medicines are limited due to its characteristic odor of the breath and skin, spicy flavor, occasional allergic reactions, toxicity and tendency to cause an upset stomach (1). black garlic benefits are anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, protect heart and liver.

How to make a black garlic

Black garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a kind of deep-processed food made of raw garlic under high temperatures (70-80°C) and humidity for 1-3 months without additives, causing the garlic to turn black because of the browning compounds produced. Through this ripening process, bioactive compounds are also newly formed or altered in black garlic-like total polyphenol content and antioxidant capacity increase during the black garlic process. Black garlic has sweet-sour taste with a balsamic touch that reminds us of raisins, contain water-soluble compounds, thus it lacks the toxicity and has no peculiar garlic smell and taste of raw garlic (2).

Health Benefits of Black garlic

Black garlic health benefits are revealed through various pharmacological functions, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-allergic, hypolipidemic, cardiac and hepatoprotective. Let’s take to look at some of these properties.

1. Help to lose weight

Intake of aged black garlic help to reduce caloric/food intake, decrease fat absorption by the breakdown of fats and release it in the blood thus prevent gain weight (3,4).

2. Black garlic helps to prevent inflammation

The person who is suffering from contact dermatitis can consume or apply aged black garlic (high content of phenolic compounds and flavonoids) which suppress inflammation due to their antiseptic and anti-allergic properties thus treat contact dermatitis (5).

3. Improve Cognitive function

Black garlic supplementation improves both short-term and long-term memories in elderly people by minimizing the inflammation in the brain thus helping to prevent cognitive conditions like dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease (6, 7).

4. Black garlic is best for heart function in patients with coronary heart disease

4. Black garlic lower anti-inflammatory activity

Black garlic possesses less anti-inflammatory activity compared with raw garlic which is due to the presence of sugars such as galactose, glucose, fructose, and sucrose (23).

5. High antioxidant activity than white garlic

Black garlic has 5 times higher free radical scavenging ability than fresh garlic because it contains organosulfur compounds are produced during the aging process of garlic (24).

6. Boost immunity higher than white garlic

Black garlic has a high ability to stimulate or boost immune system than raw garlic because it contains a high amount of phenolic compound which show stronger antioxidant and anticancer activities in compare to raw garlic (25).